Dr. Jack Schaap

On March 7, 2001, following the death of his father-in-law and mentor, Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. Schaap was voted in as pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, with an overwhelming 96-percent vote in favor of his becoming pastor.

In the eight years that Dr. Schaap has been its pastor, the First Baptist Church of Hammond has seen amazing growth, with the average weekly attendance more than doubling. This growth caused the need for a new auditorium; so in March of 2005, the First Baptist Church moved into a new 7500-seat auditorium and, throughout that same year, saw over 25,000 converts baptized.

Also during his eight-year tenure as pastor, Dr. Schaap has led the First Baptist Church in starting many new ministries including the Chapel Ministry (consisting of five inner-city chapels), Responsibility USA (a ministry to public school teens), Reformers Unanimous (an addiction program), and 57 new adult Sunday school classes.

The First Baptist Church, under the leadership of Dr. Schaap, hosts three nationwide conferences each year—Pastors’ School in March, Youth Conference in July, and the Christian Womanhood Spectacular in October. In addition to these conferences, Dr. Schaap also travels to preach around the country. His lifelong interest in aviation that began when he earned his pilot’s license as a teenager has come to fruition as he flies to speak out of town.

Dr. Schaap superintends more than 3000 Christian young people in five different church-operated, private Christian schools. He is the chancellor of Hyles-Anderson College, a private Bible college operated by the First Baptist Church for the purpose of training preachers, missionaries, and Christian educators.

Dr. Schaap, who is known for his heart for world missions, oversees the operations of FBMI (Fundamental Baptist Missions International), which currently has 105 missionaries on the field and 25 on deputation, representing 45 countries altogether. Since the inception of a Faith Promise Giving program, the church has seen its missions giving rise from ,000 to a pledged .7 million for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

A few years ago, the first mission team was sent from the First Baptist Church to an oppressive country. As of July 2009, this team has seen 6,325 trust Jesus Christ as their Saviour, with 770 of them following in believer’s baptism. A second mission team was sent to Ghana, West Africa, in November of 2006. This team is averaging 976 each Sunday at the First Baptist Church of Kumasi and has seen 185,765 people saved and 3,851 baptized. Hyles-Anderson College of West Africa was founded there in January of 2008 and will host its first graduation in September 2009. In May of 2008, a third mission team was sent to Bangkok, Thailand. Since their arrival they have seen 7,233 people saved and 477 baptized. A fourth mission team, going to India, has been assembled, with plans to leave in January of 2010.

Dr. and Mrs. Schaap have been married for 30 years and have two children, Jaclynn and Ken. Jaclynn is married to Todd Weber, junior high youth director at First Baptist Church, and is one of the church pianists. The Webers have three children: Lyndsay, Raymond, and Alexys. Ken is married to Candace (Hooker) and teaches at Hyles-Anderson College. They have one son, Kenneth.

Those who know Dr. Jack Schaap best would describe him as a man with a passion for God.